On July 10 a team of four climbers, Pavle Kozjek, Miha Lampreht, Branko
Ivanek (all from Slovenia) and Aritza Monasterio (Basque, living in
Peru) completed a route up the center of the southeast face of Trapecio
(5644m). Jeff Lowe had climbed the hardest part of the route in 1985,
but he turned back after the crux, some 250 meters below the top. He
graded his climb ED+ (700m) and considered it one of his hardest solo
climbs.
We began at 5 a.m. and immediately met with overhanging rock (A2 M5).
There was much less ice on the wall than years ago and climbing
conditions were varied. The easier middle part of the face led us to a
vertical headwall (AI5/6, 80-90 degrees). Because of bad ice on the last
steep pitch, we traversed thirty meters to the right and climbed an
overhanging rock chimney (5.9) that opened the way to the upper
snowfields. Two more steep pitches (AI4/5, 60-75 degrees) led almost
directly to the top of Trapecio, which we reached at 5 p.m. We descended
the north face, using headlamps, and arrived at base camp at 2:30 a.m.,
twenty-one and a half hours after beginning. We graded our first
complete ascent of the Lowe Route ED+ (AI6 M5 A2, 800m).
Pavle Kozjek, Ljubljana, Slovenia